Every year in the United States there occurs approximately 1.2 million fractures due to osteoporosis. Nine hundred thousand (900,000) of those fractures occur in bones which can be treated with the percutaneous balloon technology of the present invention which includes instant fixation by methyl methacrylate cement or with liquid artificial bone substitutes. Those fractures which can be treated by the method and apparatus of the present invention are the Colles' fracture, the proximal humerus fracture, and the vertebral body compressions fracture.
Osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures are currently treated with bed rest, analgesics, and intravenous hydration during the first week after onset of the problem. These steps are followed by the prescription of a soft or firm spinal corset, depending upon the physician's preference. In most cases, the corset is not worn because the patient suffers much discomfort and oftentimes greater discomfort than that due to the fracture of the vertebral body. The fracture pain lasts from two to eight months. In many cases, patients with osteoporotic vertebral body collapse fractures require about one week in an acute care hospital and two to three weeks in an extended care facility until they are able to move about independently and with only moderate pain. Current treatment does not substantially alter the conditions of the vertebral body.
The current management of osteoporotic shoulder fractures includes either long term immobilization in a sling, followed by lengthy physical therapy. If the fracture is in three or four parts, the fracture is treated with a shoulder hemiarthroplasty. Long term stiffness is the rule, following either treatment due to long term immobilization and/or extensive wound healing.
Osteoporotic Colles' fractures of the wrist in the elderly are currently treated in three different ways: (1) they are treated with closed reduction and application of a short arm cast for one or more weeks; (2) they can be treated with a short arm cast without reduction; and (3) they may be treated with closed reduction and pins and plaster immobilization for eight weeks. All treatment modalities result in considerable stiffness and have frequent malunions of the fractures.
Because of the problems associated with the treatment of vertebral body fractures, Colles' fractures, shoulder fractures and other osteoporotic conditions similar thereto, a need has existed for a method and apparatus to improve on the protocol for treating such fractures such as shortening the time in which a patient suffers pain due to such fracture. The present invention provides apparatus and a method of percutaneous fracture fixation which satisfies this need.